It’s myopic to reduce the startup extinction event to a loss of VC.
The point of VC is that some businesses (like LinkedIn, Google, Apple, etc.) require multiple rounds of capital to get to a sustainable business model.
But just stating that isn’t instructive.
What’s more important, esp. for founders, is why that is the case:
It’s because providing a better way isn’t a sustainable business practice.
Markets lock in the familiar vs. the effective.
So you quite literally have to create new markets to deliver new & better ways of creating value.
There are many ways to fail at that with honest effort, including due to factors outside your control.
Beloved products, that deliver real value & better social impact, die all the time.
I know it can seem from the outside that whipping up hype & raising money is a founder’s job.
But very few founders have or ever will win on such a narrow approach.
It’s smart to raise on the latest trend because it maximizes capital. But it won’t save you from the fact that buyer’s are not rational - B2B or otherwise - and markets reward incubants.
The point of VC is that some businesses (like LinkedIn, Google, Apple, etc.) require multiple rounds of capital to get to a sustainable business model.
But just stating that isn’t instructive.
What’s more important, esp. for founders, is why that is the case:
It’s because providing a better way isn’t a sustainable business practice.
Markets lock in the familiar vs. the effective.
So you quite literally have to create new markets to deliver new & better ways of creating value.
There are many ways to fail at that with honest effort, including due to factors outside your control.
Beloved products, that deliver real value & better social impact, die all the time.
I know it can seem from the outside that whipping up hype & raising money is a founder’s job.
But very few founders have or ever will win on such a narrow approach.
It’s smart to raise on the latest trend because it maximizes capital. But it won’t save you from the fact that buyer’s are not rational - B2B or otherwise - and markets reward incubants.